


Twenty Seven Links Walk Into A Bar

by orphan_account



Category: Dimensional Links, Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Dimensional Links (Legend of Zelda), Gen, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), THE DL BOYS NEED THEIR OWN AO3 TAG, Unless they already have one and I'm just stupid
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-10-19 21:07:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20663786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: What's better than nine Heroes of Courage? Twenty seven!





	Twenty Seven Links Walk Into A Bar

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Dimensional Links](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15194783) by [ChangelingRin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChangelingRin/pseuds/ChangelingRin). 

Being in an unfamiliar environment was definitely not the strangest thing Time has regained consciousness to. After all, he was travelling with eight other Heroes of Courage from different time periods. And in his years of adventures before joining them there's been far worse, but when you add up the face that was most definitely his, albight much younger, and multiplied by two staring down at him, it definitely shot up the list some into the _Really Fucking Weird_ category.

The moment his eyes opened, the boys above him shriek in such absolute terror he had to refrain from swatting them away in favor of saving his eardrums.

"Redead!" The older looking of the two cried, scurrying back a distance. To which the younger swiftly removed his cap to smack him in the chest.

"He's not a Redead!" He sighed in a way that reminded Time scarily of his own. Exhausted. Absolutely done with everything around him. His younger self (He knew, from the downright terrifying resemblance he mentioned earlier to the masks that decorate his pack that _shouldn't have been there if he wasn't,_) gave him a tired look, and Time stopped for a moment to wonder if he really had always been like _that_.

"They don't form that quickly!"

"They don't?" Older Link tilted his head, curiosity shining in his eyes in place of fear as he glanced from Time to the younger.

Younger Link hesitated.

"I... Atleast I don't _think_ they do,"

He knew from past experience that they, infact, do not.

"Well he isn't screaming or trying to violently smother us so... Yeah probably not,"

They share a silent moment, and Time could see the gears turning over in their (_his_?) heads before he decided to break the silence in favor of asking what he thought to be an important question.

"What- What's going on?" He was the appointed leader of a band of nine holy heroes chosen by the Goddesses brought together across time and space to fight an unknown evil, yet his words were muttered like a drunken sailor. The Younger Link turned to acknowledge him first, eyes widening a bit as they remembered that they were currently in the presence of one very confused hero. The other was quick to follow.

"Oh right,"

The taller hummed as they suddenly sat down infront of him. They both crossed their legs like children anticipating a story from their mother, and the realization slammed into Time like an Ox that that was because they _were_ children.

"Alright," Started the younger. "So, I'm gonna take a gander here and say your name is Link?"

"You would be correct," That earned him a grin.

"Well, this might be a bit of a surprise to you, but my name is also Link," Younger Link then nudged the taller one with his elbow. "And him too,"

Time mused the thought in his head. They were.. Definitely something. But he wouldn't say he was surprised. No, any shock he had over the subject of someone else being named Link (and a Hero of Courage,) had been stolen when he first found himself in Warriors timeline when he was thirteen. And then again when the Goddesses recruited him to round up eight other Heroes and drag them across the universe for fun.

He'd give them both credit though, they were handling the situation well. And judging by how old they appeared, and if he was correct in guessing these were just younger versions of himself, then he would have to guess they've already done the whole Get Thrown Into Another Timeline And Mentored By Warriors thing.

"Not really,"

He answered, just before Younger Link was about to say something else. His words died quickly in his throat, and a questioning frown was sent his way. Older Link, however, was bubbling over with such child-like excitement that Time had to second guess that he wasn't _actually_ the older of the two, and this kid could have been from some time after his seven year nap. He made the mental note to switch around the titles he gave them in his head.

"What?" They both exclaimed in very different tones.

Now, here was where he decided he had to be careful. Time didn't much care for the whole '_Don't tell your past self anything about the future or it could change everything_,' shtick. Because, well, he'd been travelling with future and past versions of the Heroes Spirit, and nothing bad had happened to their timelines yet, so he doubted there was much to worry about in that department (Or the Goddesses were just waiting to unpack all of that on them,).

But there was the issue of trust. Not of how much _could_ he tell them, but how much _should_ he tell them. For all he knew, this could be a trick of The Shadows to lull him into sharing more than he should, or ultimately just to keep him separate from the others to kill him off. Or a fever dream. That could have been it too.

"I'm already travelling with nine other incarnations of the Heroes Spirit. What's two more?"

So he opted for things The Shadow should already be aware of.

Their eyes lit up comically, and Time found himself highly doubting that his current foe could ever pull off such an innocent expression.

"There's others!" Younger Link exclaimed.

"Eight more heroes?" Murmured Older Link.

"And if one of them is with _us_, then.. Could that mean that-?"

Quite suddenly, their expressions turned to that of terror as they stared at one another. The meaning flew right over Times head until they shared a groan and the shorter pinched the bridge of his nose.

"One of them could be stuck with Realm,"

Nevermind, he was still lost. 

Older Link gave him a sympathetic frown and a pat on his shoulder, only possible by the fact Time was still sitting down. 

"I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but there's a chance you'll never see one of your friends again,"

"... _What_-?"

"You'll want to remain seated for this.. It's gonna require a bit of story telling to get to the punchline,"

"Ooh! Can I explain it to him?" Younger Link raised his hand up into the air, waving it slightly back and forth like a child in a classroom itching to ask a question.

"Sure," Older Link shrugged.

"Oh-kay! So we _also_ come from a group of heroes. And it all started because this angry God guy Demise wanted to destroy the universe..."

* * *

Okay, so there was a lot to take in.

Eighteen Links. _Eighteen_ of them, not _one_ of them a legal adult, travelling together to fight an all powerful God who asborbed their respective villains to gain their power and defeat Courage once and for all.

Mask and Ocarina, as he learned to call them, went into great detail about each and every one of their companions, diving head first into completely trusting him with their tales. From the hive mind of the Four down to the smallest hero of the Minish, he learned a little about them all. Realm, as they had earlier whispered with despair, was one of these Links, and was extremely directionally challenged in the sense that he could get across a continent in just the span of a few minutes. Which, with his experience with Hyrule and Wild, and the added fact either of them could be out there with him (or _both_), was a little concerning. Only a little.

In turn, Time told them of his group. Not everything, he was still careful about what he said, but enough to give them an idea about his current lifestyle. Both boys were also very excited to learn his given nickname and by extension, his title ("_Your face markings make so much more sense now. When we first woke up next to you I nearly had a heart attack,_"). Which brought about a very loud discussion between the three Heroes of Time, most of it revolving around their curiosity about his (_their_?) future life.

Mask was particularly upset he wouldn't disclose much, though Ocarina proudly pronounced that his vague answers to all of Masks questions were karma coming back to bite him. 

_"Are you married?" Asked Ocarina._

_"Maybe,"_

_"Is it to Zelda?" He grinned hopefully, and if it wasn't established already, it was now. This kid was definitely from his first adventure when he had that puppy love crush on the princess of Hyrule. Ah, the second-hand embarrassment.. Or was it technically first-hand?_

_"It can't be Zelda, she's a princess!" Mask argued, and he had a good point. A forest boy marrying royalty probably wouldn't sit right with other nobles._

_"What about Ruto?" Ocarina tried next._

_"Also a princess," Time pointed out. The younger was not discouraged._

_"Yeah, but she _proposed_,"_

_"When we were nine! Nine year olds can't get married," Mask thwacked him with his cap for the umpteenth time that afternoon._

"_Maybe he waited?"_

_"... Did you wait?"_

_Time shook his head._

_"I did not,"_

It was highly amusing to the oldest hero.

But eventually, they gave up their guessing game when they caught on that he still wouldn't give them clear answers. And with their very heated discussion about his life out of the way, there came another topic.

_What now_?

"Well, _normally_ after we find a new Link we jump back on through the big ol' void-portal, but as you can see-" Mask waved his hand around, gesturing to the ruins of the temple around them. "-there is none,"

"What about you?" Ocarina asked, staring at Time with wide eyes. "What do you guys do when you find a new Link?"

The older hero blinked.

"It doesn't really happen the exact same way you both explained it," He mused. "We all left at about the same time through gates the Shadow opened to recruit monsters and eventually found eachother. Since then, we've been tracking it across the different Hyrules,"

"Huh," Ocarina muttered, scratching the underside of his chin. "Then we should probably search for a town or something. Maybe some of our friends will have been there and someone saw them,"

"What direction would be even go, this isn't our home," Mask shrugged. "And I sure as hell hope this isn't _your_ home. Because, quite frankly, it's a dump. And I'd be deeply concerned over how much it's changed in the fifty something years between our times," 

"How old do you think I am?"

When Mask and Ocarina opened their mouths to respond, Time silenced them with a wave of his hand.

"Actually, I think I'd rather if I didn't know the answer to that question," A wise decision in the end. He would not like the answer he recieved.

"It doesn't look much better off than my Castle Town does," Ocarina admitted with a frown.

He hesitated for a moment before asking, "There aren't any Redeads wandering around here... Right?"

Time had to laugh at that. He sympathized, waking up in the Temple of Time and wandering out into the waiting grasp of a town square full of Redeads was _not_ a memory he was any bit fond of.

"No, no Redeads. The worst we can encounter is a Lynel, here,"

At the mention of the beast, both his younger counterparts gave him questioning looks.

"What's a _Lynel_?"

Ah, to be young and unaware.

"Well..."


End file.
